‘The Podfather’ meets Winer - podcasts at dawn

Harvard podcaster claims iPodder founder copied him.

By
Macworld staff
, | 26 May 05

A war is being staged in cyber space between two men who claim they were the brains behind podcasting.

Dave Winer says he launched the first podcasts in 2003 when he was a fellow at Harvard Law School's Berkman Center for the Internet & Society. He claims that former MTV music presenter Adam Curry, the man who created the iPodder podcast directory, and described by Wired as "The Podfather", copied him. Curry says Winer "just wants to be famous".

It sounds like a case of sour grapes. The two were once friends and co-works, reveals The Boston Globe.

Liars

Winer told the paper that he and Curry, and Curry's associate Ron Bloom were supposed to set up a business partnership but that fell through. ''Then I heard they were going into business together. They said they weren't - that turned out to be a lie," he said.

"I started podcasting and that's when it took off. Everything they are doing, they are copying me," claims Winer.

Adam Curry, who has just started hosting a Sirius satellite radio show devoted to podcasts has counter attacked. He told his podcast audience: ''Dave went off on me in an incredibly hurtful manner. It's all about credit, who created this, who created that. What Dave accuses me of doing is that I didn't give him proper credit… You just want to be famous, Dave, and you are. You don't have to go asking for credit all the time."